Minna Rönkkö, coordinator-teacherThe Sisä-Savo Adult Education

Services

24.2.2015

A short presentation of Suonenjoki

The town of Suonenjoki

• Previous name Suonnejoki

• It became a municipality in 1870, and an independent town in 1977

• 7572 inhabitants (31.12.2014)

• The most important trades: metal-, wood- and food industries, agriculture, the service trade

• The most important businesses: Arctic Machine, (snowploughs) PCM Technology, Pakkasmarja Oy (berry products), Osuuskunta Maitomaa, (milk), Valio jam factory, Keski Oy (bagels)

Strawberry fields• You could say that strawberry is the thing

that defines Suonenjoki• The town is known throughout Finland as

the home of the finest strawberries• The Annual Suonenjoki Strawberry

Festival has been organised since 1970, and it attracts about 25 000 visitors to Suonenjoki every year

• There are dozens of strawberry farms here

• We receive thousands of strawberry pickers from 15-20 countries every summer

Suonenjoki in the summerThere are all kinds of activities in Suonenjoki in the summer. You can for instance:

•Go and see trotting races

•Go and see rallycross races

•Take part in rowing competitions

•Try rock climbing; it takes courage but feels great!

• Visit the library. Finland has high quality libraries with extensive collections. The use of libraries is free of charge for everybody.

•The Cellar Gallery in Suonenjoki offers different exhibitions throughout the year.

Suonenjoki in the winterIt is possible to try…

• cross-country skiing

• ice hockey

• tour skating on ice

• driving a snowmobile

• to take a sauna and after that make a hole in ice and take a swim. It takes courage but feels great!

The Sisä-Savo Adult Education ServicesThe Sisä-Savo Adult Education Services offers a wide range of courses open for everyone.

The courses entail for instance different foreign languages (English, Swedish, German,French, Spanish..), computer courses for beginners and intermediate learners, a huge variety of courses in arts and crafts, art, dance classes, choirs, poetry, fitness courses, first aid, zumba, karaoke, theatre groups, cooking classes, literature groups… basically only the sky is the limit!

We receive subsidies from the Ministry of Education. This means that the course fees are relatively cheap and therefore available for everyone. This is the main idea of these kinds of adult education centres in Finland; to offer a wide range of courses with reasonable prices!